Daily Freeman Life Editor Ivan Lajara talks about journalism, living in the Hudson Valley, language, the Web, cats and even politics. But he shouldn't.

Friday, May 29, 2015

Can you see it?

Belleayre Beach in Pine Hill. There's an eagle in there.

Many Earth cycles ago, when I was in high school — around the time when my English was not good enough to purposely mangle the language or to notice typos that now keep me up at night — the class took a trip to "the beach."
The beach was Kingston Point along the Hudson, which is very pretty, but it was not a "beach" by my definition.
And I remember myself complaining. "This is not a beach," not looking at the beauty around me. "I can see the other side."
The other side was also beautiful. But I don't think I saw it then.
The Earth had to go around the sun some more times before I eventually did.

Time issues

Some time ago during a news meeting, bosspersonman Tony Adamis brought up a photo showing the "IIII" from the Old Dutch Church clock. I said that we did a story that mentioned the "XIII." That meeting inspired yesterday's post about this weirdness, and Tony was kind enough to dredge the closeup, so you can see if for yourself.

DFM chat on how to integrate social media into your newsroom's workflow, for everyone

Journalists, members of Digital First Media and pretty much everyone else who wants to - are going to be taking part on the weekly Twitter chat Wednesday at noon, Eastern Time.

Today we are talking about how to integrate social media into a newsroom's workflow. Does every journalist in a newsroom need to be active in social media? What are the baseline social media skills for journalists? What about copy editors or designers? How do you measure such engagement in a qualitative way? Bring your ideas, your tools and your #realtalk. #Realtalk is mandatory.

The feed is posted below. You can also check out past chats over here.

If you want to chime in, post a comment in the container or a tweet with the hashtag "#dfmchat" so it can automatically appear below.

Everything is connected

Shaupeneak Ridge in the town of Esopus over the weekend.

Sometimes things are as clear as the pristine water from a Hudson Valley pond. Other times — just as often— things are seemingly disconnected, like random lily pads floating about. But take a step back and look at the whole picture. What do you see?

The Cloud is cloudy

Clouds are unpredictable, though we know what they do and how they do it. Their shapes are as puzzling as they are inspiring, and sometimes I'm as puzzled as I'm inspired by the potential — and dangers — of cloud computing, namely storing all your stuff on someone else's home. It's all very confusing.
Like a cloud.

It grows

Route 32 near Rosendale.

Nature likes to take over when things are left unattended. That can be both beautiful and terrifying, and how we see it is a reflection of who we are, in the ever growing and disruptive nature of life.

Quick trip

Monsters among us

The Broadway Lights diner in Kingston is home of the Alex Burger, a two-pound monster ("The beast of all beasts," according to the menu) that will earn you a T-shirt if you finish it. Every now and then you'll see someone post a photo of it on Facebook, and the burger is sometimes bigger than the happy faces posting the photos.
'merica.

Nothing lasts

RIP Phone, you terrible beast.

I dropped my phone yesterday as I was leaving work and the screen shattered. It kind of works, in that I can hear if I get a text or email, but I can't answer or use it.
I thought that would add to my FOMO, but it really didn't, but not for the reasons you think.
After all, this is not a story about how not being connected changed my perspective about life.
You see, I wasn't completely disconnected — I took that photo with Google Glass— and the real realization was that it would take more than losing one device for me to really have an epiphany and have my 'om' moment under a tree.

Or maybe I wasn't worried because I had an excuse to not answer emails at home.

Hot news

A funky car on Hurley Avenue in Kingston on Monday.

Hot cars are meeting the hotter pavement. The clothes are getting thinner and air is getting thicker. But drive five minutes from anywhere in the area and you are bound to find some beautiful scenery.
No, seriously. Drive.

Love in Upstate Jesus

John Street in Uptown Kingston.

The petals of many short-lived flowers around Kingston are beginning to decay, but that means that warmer weather and nicer times are also coming — and that beautiful moments are brief.
Enjoy them while you have them.

The trail of the rail story

A Catskill Mountain Railroad car in Midtown Kingston.

The long debate over the future (or lack of it) of the Catskill Mountain Railroad has been raging in the pages and comments of the Freeman and the community at large for longer than I care to remember. Emotions are very high, and if recreational trails or rails is THE issue for people in the Mid-Hudson Valley and the Catskills, I'd venture to say we generally have a pretty neat life in the area.
So let's be nice. Catskill Mountain Railroad Commenters™ might notice the comments on this blog are unmoderated and that I've been calling them "Catskill Mountain Railroad Commenters™" for months. Feel free to go to town here and give Tony a break.

DFM chat on how to visualize content for social media, for free

Journalists, members of Digital First Media and pretty much everyone else who wants to - are going to be taking part on the weekly Twitter chat Wednesday at noon, Eastern Time.

Today we are talking about how to improve the impact of your social media posts by adding media. What kinds of visualizations work for what platforms? What tools can you easily and quickly use that are free? Bring your toolkit (or just lurk!) and your #realtalk.

The feed is posted below. You can also check out past chats over here.

If you want to chime in, post a comment in the container or a tweet with the hashtag "#dfmchat" so it can automatically appear below.Read more »

The fire in you

Firemen's Park on Hurley and Washington avenues in Uptown Kingston on Monday.

The world is on fire, but not because we're a terrible bunch, but because of our burning untapped potential.
There are signs of this all around. And you know you have it. What are you doing with it?Read more »

May The Fourth Brands Gonna Brand

The Cinco de Mayo festival takes over Broadway Kingston on Saturday.

We enter May and that means that things are happening and that this horrible meme is resting for another year.
It may come as no surprise that the Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the city already happened. As did the New Paltz Regatta on Sunday.
Blink and you miss things. But there are plenty of things to do, still. Let's do them.Read more »